Cate Blanchett Set To Join Mark Romanek's 'Cinderella' Update

Just in case you’re sick of the recent wave of fantasy and fairy tale films that have been deluging the marketplace lately, you may wish to skip this bit of news (then again, it may actually restore your hope in those types of movies). Of all the upcoming fairy tale flicks (Jack the Giant Slayer, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, whatever sequels Snow White and the Huntsman can crap out), the live-action Cinderellaupdate that Mark Romanek is directing for Disney looks to be the most interesting. After all, Romanek is an interesting director and visual stylist (One Hour Photo, Never Let Me Go), and his take on Cinderella would certainly be a slice of oddball eye-candy. And now that Cate Blanchett is in talks to star in the film, well, where do we sign up?

Rumor has it that Blanchett is currently in negotiations to play the evil stepmother—something she could do well, as she’s no stranger to fantasy films (The Lord of the Rings franchise), and she’s effectively played villains before.

While the specifics of Romanek’s take on the classic story have yet to be released, /Film notes that the script concerns a “re-imaging of the classic tale where the prince is set for a politically arranged marriage, until the evil plan is threatened when the prince meets Cinderella.”

At this point, as long as Romanek and Blanchett are involved, you could tell us that the film revolved around the evil stepmother and Cinderella spending a bored afternoon playing Scrabble and we’d probably still watch.